AutoCAD 2 – Advanced 2D

In this 56 hour, online CAD course, students will learn the advanced two dimensional capabilities of AutoCAD. This course was developed and recorded using AutoCAD 2008, but all of the material and exercises can also be completed in AutoCAD 2009, AutoCAD 2007 or AutoCAD 2006.

New concepts include: advanced dimensioning techniques such as lateral tolerances and alternate units, advanced viewport creation and paperspace detailing, annotation scaling techniques, multi layout paperspace plotting, hatching and presentation techniques, tables and fields, layer and selection filters, blocks and symbol libraries, attributes, Dynamic Blocks, externally referenced drawings, raster images, sheet sets, and publishing.

Students will use these concepts and procedures in the creation of increasingly complex two-dimensional technical drawings culminating in a 12 part, multi-file building project containing external references, satellite photographs and hybrid raster images.

Detailed Course Description

The course content for level two begins with a series of classic Shaker style furniture drawings from which students will learn techniques for extracting detail drawings through the manipulation of viewports and viewport specific layer controls.

Next the students will create a set of Architectural plan details containing numerous material hatching patterns and will also learn how to work with tables and table styles as they create a custom wall schedule table.

The next project begins with a multi-layout floor plan where the student will learn how to use layer states and viewport controls to display a single drawing in both a construction document and a black line, presentation style. Students will create an architectural symbol library containing blocks of doors and windows which will be used in the floor plan drawing. Door schedules and window schedules will be added and then students will learn how to add data to their blocks in the form of attributes. These attributes will be contained within door, window and room tags which will in turn be used to populate the associated schedules.

After completing the first architectural project, students will learn how to work with AutoCAD’s powerful new Dynamic Block Editor which allows the user to assign parameters such as dimensions and visibility states to a block.

The final project spans classes 11 to 16 and revolves around an initial design for a recording studio to be sited on a derelict property on the Toronto waterfront. The student will play the part of several members of a team and will develop the project using external references to divide it into a number of separate files including a site drawing, a shell drawing and 3 separate files for east, west and north wings. The student will learn how to work with and update references and also learn how to work with raster images as they site the building footprint on a scaled satellite photograph and satellite maps.

In the last two classes, students will learn how to create sheet sets to easily plot a cohesive set of drawings from separate files and will also learn how to Publish the drawings in both PDF and DWF formats for sharing information with those that do not have access to AutoCAD.